Projects fail Kalhandi, Balangir Koraput scheme

Times of India, Aug 19, 2013
Bikash Khemka, TNN | Aug 19, 2013, 04.15 PM IST
BHAWANIPATNA: The much-hyped KBK(Kalhandi, BalangirKoraput) scheme completed 18 years on Sunday, but large number of people are still deprived of basic amenities.

The KBK, comprising Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkanagiri and Rayagada, Sonepur and Balangir and Kalahandi and Nuapada districts, is one of the poorest and most backward regions of the country.

In the 90s, the KBK attracted the nation's attention due to starvation deaths, child sale and large-scale migration. The then Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao, launched a long-term action plan for the KBK on August 18, 1995, with the objective of alleviating hunger and ushering in development. The programme, however, could not succeed due to slow flow of funds. The Centre re-launched the programme in 1998-99 as Revised Long-term Action Plan with some structural changes. Besides, the state government also launched Biju KBK Yojana under state plan in 2006.

The Centre also approved the proposal for continuing the special plan for the KBK in 2012-13 with an allocation of Rs 250 crore. Till date the government has spent more than Rs 1,963.95 crore for KBK region but people still migrate to other states for a living, official sources said. Three districts - Malkanagiri, Nabarangpur and Sonepur - do not even have railway network.

The woeful situation in a few regions can be gauged from fact that people bring patients to hospital by boat in Nakesjor village of Kalahandi's Thuamul Rampur block because there is no road. In rainy season, they can't cross the river due to overflowing water and patients are left to fend for themselves.

In remote pockets of Lanjigarh block people are still using stream and river water for drinking proposes. Roads, healthcare, education and electricity are still a far cry.

Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das charged, "The BJD government is not spending funds for development of KBK." Countering Das' charge, former SC & ST development minister Balabhadra Majhi said all the schemes, including Backward Regions Grant Fund, are being implemented successfully. Former MP (Congress) Subash Nayak, who has joined the BJD, said the government is sincerely working for KBK.